high-performance...

On weekdays I often eat my lunch at the edge of the pond at the end of the road. Walking there takes me past the offices of a large international finance company. Although I have passed it dozens of times, yesterday I noticed something very odd about the carpark. Not the carpark itself, actually, but the cars therein. All of the cars appeared to be Australian, Japanese or German sedans of the lower-mid executive persuasion. What struck me in particular was the spoilers sprouting from the back of the vehicles. Almost every car had one. I wondered what this might say about the owners of these vehicles. Is a spoiler a prerequisite to being a successful employee of a large international finance company? Are they attempting to enhance their image by adding a stylish and rebellious appendage to their car? Are they failing?

To provide some perspective, I did a quick survey of the cars in our own carpark, and there was a marked contrast. There were very few spoilers to be seen, and a good proportion of the cars were station wagons or hatchbacks. Plenty of 4WD SUVs, though. What does this tell us about employees at a medium-sized engineering consultancy? Probably nothing of any great interest.